“No dresses.”
She lowered the garment and glared at me.
“You’re going to be Queen of this entire country. You are not wearing breeches to dinner.”
“It’s only my family and Phoenix!” “Yes, but who do you think will be waiting on you?” she was sizing the dress up against me now. “The pages and staff of the former Governor. They’re going to be waiting to see who they work for now, and if you turn up in boots and breeches, that word will spread around the city faster than I can stop it.”
“Okay, okay!” I lifted my hands to halt her tirade. “Green dress it is.” I eyed off the ties and buttons. “I might need a hand.”
“Good thing you have a lady in waiting then,” Larni said as I began to remove my boots. “But fair warning, you will have to take on more.”
“More ladies in waiting? What are they, anyway?” “Daughters of noble houses. As soon as the families hear that there is a new Queen, they will send their daughters to court. You will be expected to choose some to wait on you personally,” Larni was unlacing the back of the dress. “Choose wisely, as it could be dangerous to offend the wrong families.”
“Dangerous?” “They are very powerful, and very vain; a nasty combination. However, if you choose the right one, they could be very good allies.”
“I don’t need allies.”
Larni met my gaze.
“No... not yet anyway. Now, out of that shirt.”
I lifted my shirt up and over my head, avoiding my shoulder. “I can point out which girls would best suit the court, and you, if you like. I know that you’d hate to put up with-”
She broke off.
“What?” I asked her.
“What is that?” she asked quietly.
I turned to look at her. She was staring at my back, her eyes wide.
“You’ve seen me in my underwear before,” I said, puzzled. “What’s wrong?” Wordlessly, she towed me to the mirror. Twisting around, I managed to get a look at what she was talking about.
Angry red lines fanned out from my left shoulder, spreading across my back in a vaguely fern-like pattern. I trailed my fingers across it, and whilst it didn’t hurt, I could feel the raised skin. The pattern covered my entire back, down to my hips, where it began to curl around to my stomach but then had stopped.
I swallowed, my mouth dry.
“Could you please fetch Ispin?” I asked Larni. As a native born mage, one well versed in many things thanks to his love of libraries, Ispin might know what this was. I waited, shivering in the darkening room, until Larni stepped through the door, Ispin close behind.
“I understand this might be weird,” I started as Larni lit the lamps around my room. “But I thought you might know what this is.”
I turned to show him my back, my heart hammering in my chest. He spent a good five minutes examining it. “May I touch it?” he asked, and I nodded assent. I jumped as his fingertips brushed a branch of the pattern.
“I have a theory,” he said, a few minutes later. “Dena might be able to back it up, but I only have what I’ve read. “When a person survives being struck by lightning, the energy that flows through their body sometimes ruptures capillaries- little blood vessels,” he explained to my questioning look. “And creates this pattern. It usually only lasts a few hours though.”
“So it should go away soon?”
“Theoretically, yes. Unless you’re going to make a habit of being struck by lightning.”
I laughed uneasily.
“Thanks,” I said, sincerely. “I was freaking out a bit.”
“Understandable,” he replied. “I best get going to dinner.”
“I’ll see you down there.” I again remembered the feeling of the lightning coursing through my body. As Larni fussed about me, I realised I could still feel its power rising in my veins like the tide.
~Chapter Nineteen~
It had been three weeks since I’d defeated Griffin. In that time, heralds had been sent out to the other cities to summon their nobles to court, to recognise Phoenix and I as Lotheria’s rulers.
Today was the day of our coronation.
“Why so soon?” I asked my mother, wincing as a seamstress managed to prick me with another pin. “There’s always the possibility that Ryman will make another grab for power in some way or another,” she answered, tying a sleeve on her own dress. “Besides, you said yourself that this country needed an overhaul; you’re going to need the crown to put forth those changes.”
She was right; I was appalled by the state of the country. The segregation between mages and non-magi made me sick, and my first law would be to abolish any discrimination towards the non-magical folk.
I was deep in thought as my mother led me away from the seamstresses and to a mirror. She and another woman began organising pots and brushes.
“Turn and face me.” Mum said. I obeyed, closing my eyes as she dabbed a small brush into some paint. I felt her paint slowly and carefully along my eyelids, letting the brush ink the paint onto my eyelids. A few seconds later, I felt her brush mascara onto my lashes and blush onto my cheeks. I needed it; I knew I was pale.
“Open your eyes,” she commanded. I obeyed again, looking to the ceiling as she drew along my eyes with eyeliner. One hand cupping my chin and the other expertly drawing the thin line.
“Open your mouth.”
This time, it was red lipstick, being painted carefully onto my lips.
“Now, look in the mirror. Do you like it?” I spun and observed the new me. I looked nice for once. No, it was more than that. The Queen I was born to be was beginning to shine through my eyes. I was beginning to fill my role.
“Now, your dress.” The dress. The moment I had been dreading. The seamstresses had been altering it while I was getting my face painted. I looked at it, feeling my heart beginning to pound in my chest.
It was a beautiful garment, all sheer white material, falling in waves from my waist. The sleeves were long and fell away from my arms at the elbow. But it was the neckline I was worried about. Strapless, the top of the dress was heavily embroidered with silver thread. I was terrified of ruining it.
“Strip,” Mum commanded, taking the dress down from its hanger. I did so, so nervous that I didn’t feel any embarrassment about undressing in front of the other women. She undid the back of the dress and helped me to get into it, then laced up the complex ties. She and the seamstresses fussed around me, brushing away invisible specks of dirt.
I watched myself in the full length mirror, trying not to tremble.
I couldn’t do this. I was twenty! I bit my painted lip, wrestling with myself.
I was dimly aware of Mum sending all of the other women out of the room before she appeared before me.
“Alright?” she asked.
I shook my head, the tears threatening to overcome me. She took my cold hands in hers.
“I always thought that when I first saw you in a white dress, it’d be on your wedding day,” she told me.
I smiled through the tears.
“Me? As if I’d get married.” “Maybe back in Ar Cena, I would’ve believed that,” she said, brushing away one of my tears before it could ruin any make up. “But here? I think here will be a different story, petal.”
I wanted to scoff, to tell her she was wrong. But when I thought of Phoenix, and the last three weeks since we’d been together, my heart took over my thinking. If Phoenix asked me...
Through the giddy fluttering of my heart, I once again felt that niggle, the one that usually nipped at me when I was kissing Phoenix or feeling extra happy about our relationship.
I’d never been in love before. Not in Ar Cena, not with Dustin. I knew without a doubt that I loved Phoenix, but the bit that got me was the conversation I’d had with Jett when I regained my memories.
Phoenix and I were cursed to fall in love so that we had a better chance of leading Lotheria to a peaceful future. Would I ever know if I loved Phoenix for who he was or becau
se of a three thousand year old curse?
I straightened, finding my resolve. I accepted the delicate scrap of lace Mum was trying to hand me and dabbed at my eyes with it.
“Ready?” she asked. Instead of all the sarcastic, elongated responses I wanted to say, to sound snippy and smart and more like myself, one word slipped through my lips.
“Yes.” The women scurried back into the room, fussing and tugging at the dress. But I ignored them; I had caught sight of myself in the mirror.
The girl standing before me wore a dress of pure white that made her seem about six feet tall. The dress was heavy enough it pulled her back straight, and she stood proudly, the train of the dress spread neatly behind her. Her lips were as red as roses, her eyes outlined in black kohl. Her dark hair had been bundled at the nape of her neck, braided and folded as required, a few curls springing loose to caress her pale shoulders, which were bare.
That girl was about to be crowned Queen of Lotheria and she was one of the most powerful mages to ever live.
And that girl was me. I was going to end the reign of slavery that this nation had imposed against the non-magi. I would fight for their rights no matter who opposed me. Larni’s friends would be paid wages and would have rights to appeal against their overlords.
I felt a surge of power flow through my veins that had nothing to do with my magic. My father met us at the door of the Great Hall, the main ballroom of the palace where today’s coronation would be held. He was dressed impeccably, but Phoenix took my breath away.
He wore dark breeches and black leather boots that rose to his knee, polished to a perfect gleam. His undershirt was white, but over it he wore a black vest with a high collar. A longsword hung from his left hip in a black scabbard with silver trim. An orange sash hung across his body from his right shoulder to his left hip, signifying the colour of his magic. Someone had managed to brush and straighten his dark, shoulder length hair, something which had always been beyond my prowess as a hairdresser or girlfriend.
I was rendered speechless. When I did manage to fumble for some words, I said:
“Why don’t I get a sword?”
He laughed, the tension that had been falling over the small group melting away. He reached for my hand.
“I think it would ruin the dress,” he lifted my hand to his lips, brushing my knuckles with his lips. “My Queen.” Jett coughed and I blushed furiously. Phoenix ignored him and held my hand for a second longer, but I tugged away.
Music started behind the doors, and the burble of voices died down. My hands began to sweat again. We were about to be crowned.
The doors opened slowly, and as they did so, I rested my hand lightly on Phoenix’s arm, drawing comfort from
the contact. He nodded at me, as though reassuring me, and together we stepped forward through the doors. We entered the hall, the soft golden light hitting us. The hall was magnificent, with golden drapes hung over the windows and towers of candles lining the walls. A roll of rich red velvet had been laid upon the stone floor for us to walk on, and I was unimaginably glad that no one had taken it upon themselves to scatter rose petals across the carpet, as Ispin had threatened. What I was unprepared for, however, was how many faces I would see when I opened my eyes.
A thousand. At least. Where did all these people come from? Surely they couldn’t all be nobles from the other states? I suddenly felt the weight of Queen hit my shoulders with something unpleasantly like reality as I looked upon the people I was about to be crowned in front of.
The attendees were dressed in various colours, and as the majority of them were nobles and therefore mages, I knew that the colours they wore were symbolic of their magic.
About halfway down the aisle, I spotted Lord Hugh and Lady Matilda, with baby Sky in her arms. I couldn’t help but grin as the chubby infant recognised me and reached for me to hold her. I brushed her chin with my finger as I passed her and was rewarded with a toothy baby grin and giggle.
Phoenix and I were slowly making our way down the aisle that had been set down the middle of the hall, towards a dais. I moved slowly, the heavy dress weighing me down; I think I would’ve sprinted to the end of the hall if I could’ve just to get this over and done with.
As I passed people, I began recognizing them. Yasmin, Rain, Petre, Theresa, Ispin, Dustin, and then Dena. Seeing my friends filled me with confidence, and I lifted my chin a little higher than before.
When I reached the man in plum robes on the dais, I knelt on one knee, drawing my right forearm across my chest. He began speaking as Phoenix did the same.
“Today, we gather to witness the birth of a new age. Today, we crown a King and Queen who will lead us to glory and salvation. Today, the world of mages is born anew, and today, we will welcome to glorious dawn of a new era.”
I clenched my fist to stop it from shaking. This was more nerve racking than I thought it would be. “Sky, do you accept the responsibility of Queen that will henceforth be yours from this day?”
“I do,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Do you swear to always make decisions that are in the best interests of your people?”
“I do.” I waited nervously as he asked Phoenix the same questions. Phoenix answered with a voice of power and steel. I tried not to be jealous of the sure, confident way he responded.
“Then, by the power that I claim as Guild Master of the Magic Testers society, I crown you as our King and Queen.”
He slid a silver circlet onto my forehead as another Magic Tester carefully placed a crown of obsidian on Phoenix’s hair.
“Now rise as our monarchs!”
I turned with Phoenix to face our people. As one, they knelt to us.
~Chapter Twenty~
Phoenix and I were guided from the hall, and as soon as the doors were closed behind us, cutting us off from everyone else in the room, we looked at each other and promptly burst into laughter.
“I don’t know why I’m laughing,” I choked out. “I think we’re hysterical,” Phoenix responded, wiping his eyes with his thumb. “We’ve just been crowned King and Queen of an entire country and we’re giggling away in the closet.”
For some reason that made me laugh harder, until I started becoming genuinely worried about our mental health. Phoenix had described the room we were standing in as a closet, but it was closer to a small sitting room, though the lamps were unlit and the small table undusted. I contemplated sitting on it to soothe my aching feet, remembered the dress I was wearing, and decided against it.
“So what now?” I managed to ask a little while later, once the laughter had subsided. “What do we do now?” “We rule the country,” Phoenix said, sitting on the table despite the dust. He patted his knee and I gingerly sat upon it, then sighed as my feet were granted some relief from the silver slippers I was wearing. “I think you already have some idea of what changes you want to implement.”
I nodded sagely, deep in thought. “Then tomorrow we will call together a council together and begin writing up some new laws. Together we can change this nation for the better.”
He was so sure, so confident that I couldn’t help but lean down and press my lips to his. I felt him respond and smiled against his mouth. He was my Phoenix, my king. We would and could do this, together.
He slid his hand to the back of my neck and pulled me closer, the other hand on my waist. I ran my hand along his and then along his arm, marvelling at the swell of his muscles under the cloth. I lingered, caressing his arm. He pulled me even closer on his lap, and we both grinned as our crowns clinked together. It broke the rising tension, and luckily so, as we both heard the approaching footsteps and were standing dutifully when my parents, the Guild Master and several others swarmed into the room.
“The ceremony went well,” the Guild Master told us, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Heralds are all over the city proclaiming the wondrous event.”
I struggled not to roll my eyes, fearing it a very unqueen-like thing to do
. “We wish to call a council together as soon as possible to discuss changes to the country,” Phoenix said. “Can we rely on one of you to gather such a council?”
“I’ll gladly take the reins,” a familiar voice put in, and I couldn’t help but smile when Lord Hugh stepped forward. “I know the people you’ll want to talk to.”
“Excellent. We shall gather in the council room at midday then,” Phoenix said. Everyone was nodding along seriously.
“Tonight there will be a feast and fireworks,” the Guild Master piped up suddenly, as though just remembering. “As the guests of honour, you two are urged to attend.”
“We will,” I replied. “Right now I think we’d both like some time to ourselves to organise the council meeting and the laws we’d like to introduce. If we can be excused?”
The group bowed or curtsied as we left the room. Phoenix led me to the room he’d been given whilst waiting for the coronation, a cosy, comfortable room with rich red carpet and cream curtains. I sat on his bed with a sigh and kicked off my shoes.
“Did you actually want to plan the council meeting?” Phoenix asked, watching the shoes bounce across the carpet.
“I suppose we should,” I replied, laying on my back and stretching. “But really I just want to chill out for a bit. I feel like it’s all been non-stop since they started organising the coronation.”
The bed dipped as he sat next to me. My heart rate increased a little. “I’m so lucky,” he murmured, running a finger down the side of my face. I felt my skin burn where he’d touched. “My beautiful woman. I love you, Sky. I hope you know that.”
“’Course I do,” I said, sitting up and taking his hand in mine. “I hope you know that I love you too.”
He smiled and my heart wobbled. I felt heat rising up my neck; I didn’t deal with lovey-dovey stuff too well. Phoenix spared me from any more talking by kissing me fiercely, and suddenly I could tell that he’d been waiting to finish our kiss from downstairs. I kissed him back eagerly, and the world ceased to exist. We were alone, for as long as we wanted, without interruptions.
Soul Blaze Page 16
